The New Orleans Pelicans forward's agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN early Monday that Davis does not intend to sign an extension and would like to be traded to a team "that allows him a chance to win consistently and compete for a championship."

A number of teams are likely going to explore their chances of landing Davis.

Yes, including the Knicks.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that they will be "aggressive" in pursuit of the five-time all-star.

For good reason.

One of the best players in the NBA, Davis is averaging 29.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists while shooting 50.8 percent from the field in 41 games.

The Knicks have vowed to not trade their draft picks, but the opportunity to land a player of Davis' caliber doesn't come around too often. And while they have intended to be players in free agency this summer, with the goal of landing a star like Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving, there's still plenty that's out of their control in that scenario.

Trading for Davis would get them the star they crave to pair with a healthy Kristaps Porzingis — but that's only if the Knicks can actually land Davis without sending Porzingis to New Orleans.

Anthony Davis has requested a trade from the New Orleans Pelicans.(Photo11: Steve Dykes, USA TODAY Sports)

If they don't include Porzingis, the Knicks almost certainly would have to give up their unprotected first-round pick as the centerpiece of a package, which could end up being quite valuable.

There's also a very likely scenario where the Pelicans would want both Porzingis and the draft pick included in a package.

It helps that New Orleans is in no rush to get a deal done before the Feb. 7 trade deadline. The Pelicans could easily wait until the summer to deal Davis considering he's signed through next season.

"Relative to specific talks of a trade, we will do this on our timeline," the Pelicans said in a statement. "One that make sense for our team and it will not be dictated by those outside of our organization. We have also requested the League to strictly enforce the tampering rules associated with this transaction."

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